Maan Boli Dehaar

International Mother Language Day or what is termed as ‘Maan Boli Dehaar’ in Punjabi language is celebrated every year on February 21 since the year 2000. The main purpose of celebrating this day is to promote the awareness of language and cultural diversity all across the world. It was first announced by UNESCO on November 17, 1999. It has been observed that due to globalization process, some languages are gradually disappearing and so are disappearing the rich cultural diversity associated with it. According to United Nations, nearly 43% of the world’s languages are gradually going into oblivion. Only a few hundred languages have genuinely been given a place in education systems and the public domain, and less than a hundred are used in the digital world. Every two weeks a language disappears taking with it an entire cultural and intellectual heritage of its area.

Punjabi which is the mother tongue of Punjab is getting step motherly treatment not only by Urdu lovers but also by Punjabis. We have been made to believe that speaking in Punjabi would somehow make us inferior and by speaking in Urdu and English, superior.

© pakistan